If you read my earlier post, you’d know that out of all the available tablets on the market I settled for the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1. Once the decision was made I went to Best Buy to purchase it. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the 32 GB Galaxy so I ordered it from Amazon.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1

What a sleek looking piece of technology. Keep in mind that I’ve been using a 17” Dell Inspiron laptop that had seen better days. The thought of a small 10.1-inch device being able to handle the daily chores of writing and blogging seems a bit unreal. Considering the fact that I’m still using an old Samsung cell phone (yes, that’s cell phone, not smartphone) I’m making a tremendous leap from the Stone Age to the 21st Century.

There were several things I had/have to adjust to. I’ve used Microsoft most of my computing life. I did venture away a bit by using OpenOffice and a few other non-Microsoft open source programs, but in general, I was used to the Microsoft way of doing things. Android tablets operate differently than Microsoft.

Closing Software Applications

My biggest frustration initially was searching for the little “x” in the upper right-hand corner of each program in order to shut it down when I was finished with it. Android tablets and Smartphones don’t work that way.

Opening one program while another is running only moves the first program to the background and the second newly opened program is prominently displayed on the tablet. If you want to get back to the original program you have to depress the “back button” located on the front of the device.

This takes some getting used to. Additionally, if I get happy and open several programs, in the back of my mind I have to remember to close some of the unused programs.

I soon learned the power of the Home button. The Home button not only brings you back to your home screen, but if you press and hold the button down for a second or two, it brings you to the following screen that displays all open programs (I also learned to depress the “Power” and “Home” buttons simultaneously to get a screen clip):

At first, I tapped on “Close all” because I didn’t know how to close only those apps I was not using. I learned quite by accident that if I swipe them up or down, they disappear off the screen and close. Swiping left or right brings me to the following or previous page listing of open apps. Android world is much different than Microsoft world.

Feeling accomplished that I can now close programs to prevent them from taking up unnecessary battery power, I then set out to take care of my second most important task of getting rid of the on-screen keyboard in order to take advantage of the Samsung Galaxy’s stylus and my brand new Logitech blue tooth keyboard.

Thank you for subscribing to Low Tech Grandma.
Before we can begin sending notifications, we ask that you click the link in the confirmation email we just sent you. If you don't see it immediately, please check your spam folder. We take privacy seriously. We will NOT share your information.

Low Tech Grandma is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.